Michele Simon has been writing and speaking about food politics and food industry marketing and lobbying tactics since 1996.

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Alcohol Taxes

Raising alcohol prices may be the single most effective strategy to reduce the harm stemming from underage drinking and adult over-consumption. Increasing excise taxes on alcoholic beverages is one strategy to achieve higher prices. In many states, taxes have not even kept up with inflation, resulting in low prices and losses in government revenue. Thanks to alcohol industry lobbying, alcohol taxes in the U.S. remain extremely low compared to other countries. Eat Drink Politics can help your state counter industry lobbying to raise alcohol taxes.

RECENT BLOG POSTS

By Michele Simon and Leslie Zellers Some commentators have compared the current effort to legalize marijuana to the post-prohibition days of alcohol. And many advocates for marijuana legalization are making the comparison to alcohol. Indeed the entire campaign in Colorado in 2012 was called “Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol.” But if supporters of marijuana legalization are [...]

Alcohol policy doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should. Federal estimates are that excessive alcohol consumption costs us $223 billion a year, not to mention the 79,000 deaths nationally. And yet on the rare occasion a political leader tries to even talk about the need to stem the tide of alcohol-related harm, all [...]

This article of mine was recently published on the Corporations and Health website. Since I started working at Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog group, in 2007 it’s become painfully clear that corporations have the same playbook. Whether it’s the food industry, tobacco, or alcohol, they all use the same talking points and lobbying strategies. [...]